Jon Lord says 'thanks but no thanks'

"It all seems like a lot of hot air and wild speculation to me" Jon Lord, on Lars Ulrich drumming for Deep Purple

Writing on his website, keyboardist Jon Lord threw a couple of buckets of water on such plans, saying, "It all seems like a lot of hot air and wild speculation to me.

"I like Lars and what he has achieved with Metallica. He's obviously always been very complimentary in his comments about Deep Purple, and I love the story of his famous nine-years-old 'baptism of fire' at our '73 concert in The KB Halle in Copenhagen, but if I was asked to be involved in a 'Mark III' reunion -(which, by the way, I haven't. All I ever said was that the idea had a few good points and a few not-so-good points) - and I indeed considered that offer, I would not be able to even imagine it without the presence of Ian Paice."

Good thing Lars Ulrich has a steady day job. We hear it pays pretty well too. With or without Purple, we think he'll be OK.

The full 20-page Deep Purple special feature is in the February 2009 edition of Classic Rock, on sale in the UK 7 January.